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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28348533">Out of Style</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LifeRuinedBy5Idiots/pseuds/LifeRuinedBy5Idiots'>LifeRuinedBy5Idiots</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Paper Airplanes [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Fuckboy!Sokka, Gender Non-Conforming Zuko, Hurt!Zuko, M/M, Multi, Sorry (not sorry) folks but Sokka is an asshole in this, Taylor Swift songs, Zuko hurts so pretty, mature rating for language, my brain said fuckboy!sokka so I listened</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 20:35:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,420</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28348533</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LifeRuinedBy5Idiots/pseuds/LifeRuinedBy5Idiots</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The problem was that they were never friends to begin with. They met through other friends and hit it off instantly. It was a sign, he figured, that their relationship wouldn’t last because of how quickly they fell into each other.<br/>…<br/>“...we went out of style, Sokka”</p>
<p>OR </p>
<p>A modern Zukka AU told through Taylor Swift’s song Style</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mentioned Sokka/Yue, Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), mentioned Sokka/Suki</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Paper Airplanes [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2076078</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>57</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Out of Style</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Beta'd by my bestie NightFlier go check out their work :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was close to midnight when his phone vibrated on the nightstand. Groaning, Zuko turned over and grabbed it from its place squinting as he looked at the bright screen.</p>
<p>He jerked awake when he saw the name on his phone. A name that he hadn't seen pop up on his phone screen in more than a year and a half. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he hesitantly typed back a response. He dropped the phone like it burned his hands and ran to the bathroom, dropping to his knees as he threw up the contents of his stomach. He felt tears fall from his eyes as he rested his head on the toilet.</p>
<p>In his room on the bed, his phone shone in the darkness of the room:</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>Sokka</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Hey, I know it's been a while but can we talk?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I can come pick you up in a few</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Please just for a little bit</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I want to explain what happened</em>
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  <em>I'll be outside.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>********* </em>
</p>
<p>A car pulled up to the curb just as the clock hit midnight. Zuko took notice that the headlights on the car were either broken or just not on. Either way, it made the encounter all the more chilling. When the car was parked, Sokka opened the door and stepped out with a small smile on his face.</p>
<p><em>It's ok </em>he thought to himself as the man approached him as if they had just seen each other yesterday's that everything between them was fine. <em>it's ok, it's ok, it's ok. </em> </p>
<p>But it wasn't.</p>
<p>As soon as they were set on the road and driving towards an unknown place his mind started to race with questions. For starters, he wondered why he was back again and where did he go for so long? His eyes flicked towards the man and then back towards the window he was staring out of.</p>
<p>He realized something was off about Sokka. He was talking and talking about something he wasn't paying much attention to, but he skillfully avoided the topic of why he suddenly appeared in his life again. He didn't even meet his eye when he tried to look at him, but now he noticed how he kept stealing glances at him every few seconds. The man was driving as stiff as a board while the knuckles on his hands were white.</p>
<p>What the hell was he thinking when he replied to him? Why did he think that he would be able to handle whatever he had to say? He knew deep down that whatever he had to say wasn't going to soothe the pain he caused him those years ago, but for some reason, he still agreed to meet with him. Why was he so stupid? He should have declined him and watched him burn with pain and hatred as he once did for him. His heart was racing too fast and suddenly he couldn't hear anything but his own rapid breathing. The already dark street was turning darker and he suddenly felt the urge to run. <em>I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this I ca-</em></p>
<p>“-ko…”</p>
<p> "Huh? Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just…." He trailed off, eyes going back towards the window to stare at the darkness passing by. He took deep breaths and tried to calm himself down before speaking again. He didn't want to tell him that this meeting was making him nervous, or that seeing him after nearly two years was making him want to ask too many questions that he probably didn't want to know the answer to. He chewed on his bottom lip as he looked back at the man driving, nervously playing with his fingers and he realized that he was going to have to lie. "tired, what were you saying?</p>
<p>“Oh, it was nothing really.” Sokka gave him a small smile, “I was just asking how you’ve been and-” his voice started to fade out again as his mind drifted back to one fact.</p>
<p>"It's been a while since I have even heard from you." He cut him off quietly. The face Sokka made had him press his face against the window as if trying to hide, instantly regretting his outburst.</p>
<p>The car was in stunned silence for a long while until Sokka sighed and tightened his grip on the steering wheel.</p>
<p>“I-I know, I just-” he looked at him from the corner of his eye. “I’ve just been dealing with so many issues Zuko, you gotta understand. I know it's sudden for me to pop up again, but I felt terrible about how we ended things the last time we saw each other. I didn't want that to be the last time we talked to each other. I want to at least be friends again, Zuko."</p>
<p>The problem was that they were never friends to begin with. They met through other friends and hit it off instantly. It was a sign, he figured, that their relationship wouldn’t last because of how quickly they fell into each other. It was like two stars circling around each other until they crashed and created a supernova. Except their supernova wasn’t beautiful, it was ugly and horrible. Sokka moved too fast and burned too bright for him. He was just an average star, slow and dim until he met Sokka and lost himself in the feeling.</p>
<p>He screamed trouble and he loved it, he loved it, <em>he <strong>loved </strong>it, </em>until he realized that he didn’t love him. Until he realized that he had lost himself. Until he realized, with utmost clarity, that they had gone out of style.</p>
<p>He looked at him as he drove. He wondered if he ever realized that they were never friends too. That what he was saying were lies that he’s heard a million times before. He wonders if he knew that he wanted to get out of the car and just go back home. He wanted to scream at him to just leave and go back to whatever city he crawled from. But then he looked over at him and smiled. It's the smile that always takes his breath away, and he knew that he lost this battle. He knew what this would lead to and he's ok with that. This has happened time and time again. Every time he crawls back into his life as though nothing has happened.</p>
<p>It’s his eyes that get him every time. They look like that old movie star, James Dean who was known for his good looks and daydream-like eyes. When they were together, he would just stare into his eyes and become blinded by his smile and he was hooked. He remembers summer nights, Sokka's face covered with red lipstick stains because he always said that red looked beautiful on him. He remembers running his hands through Sokka's hair and pushing it back from his eyes. He remembers going to the beach, and Sokka would wear a white tee-shirt, he wore a skirt that was just tight enough to hug his hips but loose enough to flow in the wind. It was always after one of their many breakups and they had just gotten back together. Sokka would look at him like he loved him, and he liked the way it made him feel. He would smile at him, lean over to press a kiss on his lips, staining them red. Sokka would wrap his arm around his shoulder, pull him closer and whisper in his ear <em>‘we’d never go out of style.’ </em> </p>
<p>“Ok.” He whispered as he broke eye contact and went back to looking out the window.</p>
<p> After driving for what felt like forever, Sokka finally pulled to a stop in an empty parking lot. Zuko shifted his eyes from looking out the window to looking out the windshield and felt his heart stop.</p>
<p>They were at the beach again.</p>
<p>He looked over at Sokka and saw that he was looking at him with a soft smile. He tipped his head towards the door and got out of the car. Zuko stayed behind, watching Sokka as he made his way towards the sand. He sat for a little while taking deep breaths to prepare himself for the emotional journey he knows he’s about to go on. With one last exhale, he pushed the car door open and followed Sokka towards the edge of the sand. Once there, they both took their shoes off and started their trek along the shoreline, just where the water meets the sand.</p>
<p>They walked for several minutes in silence, until it seemed like Sokka couldn’t take it anymore and started his rambling again. Zuko watched the way Sokka spoke. His hands moving around wildly, his eyes never quite meeting his, the way his forehead creases giving him a subtle expression of unease.</p>
<p> This was all too familiar to Zuko. He knew where that expression led, what question was going to be sprung on him by the end of their walk. The anticipation made his chest ache and stomach queasy. He didn’t want to go through this again. He <em>couldn’t</em> go through this again. He gave one last look to the man beside him before shifting his glance towards the water and began to pray. He prayed to every god that was willing to listen that this chapter in his life wasn’t just a copy and paste of previous ones.</p>
<p>“-and that’s why I just want us to be together again, Zuko.”</p>
<p>The gods clearly hate him.</p>
<p>It didn’t quite shock Zuko. He knew it was coming, but for it to happen so early on in their walk was surprising. Zuko turned his gaze back to Sokka. The blue-eyed man had been staring him down with a hopeful smile on his face. It had made Zuko feel sick. He suddenly wanted to go home.</p>
<p>There were many reasons why Zuko should just flat out tell him no. One reason, and quite frankly the main reason, being that Sokka will cheat. Yes, WILL cheat because he has the past billion times they've been together and without a doubt it will happen again. It's a fact.</p>
<p>And Zuko’s 100% positive that Sokka still, in fact, messes around with the women he’s cheated with.</p>
<p>For some reason (maybe because he hated himself- just a little) he still followed Sokka on Instagram. The man was a frequent poster, documenting many things throughout his week. At first, he posted pictures of a beautiful brown-skinned woman with stunning blue eyes and shocking white hair. Her name was Yue, and she was the first person Sokka had ever cheated on him with.</p>
<p>Yue was such a gentle, loving person. She had been one of his best friends since high school. They were raised similarly, both with strict parents and limited control over their lives. They’ve bonded over it, they’ve joked about it and they’ve often confided in one another on the nights when the stress and trauma became too much.</p>
<p>She was the one that introduced him to Sokka in college. She’s the one that had encouraged Zuko to pursue a relationship with him. She’s the one that rooted for them the hardest when they’ve finally gotten together. </p>
<p>She’s the one he found naked in Sokka’s bed almost a year into their relationship.</p>
<p>Lately, one of his most popular subjects has been a beautiful woman with short brown hair named Suki. From what he's heard from his friends, Suki was a very kind woman. She's beautiful, intelligent, and could easily kick any man's (and woman's) ass if she wanted to. Zuko could see why Sokka kept going back.</p>
<p>Sokka doesn’t know that he knew about Suki.</p>
<p>He only knew about her because of Katara. Months after he and Sokka had broken up for the final time, she confessed that she had seen Suki slip out of Sokka’s room in the middle of the night on multiple occasions.</p>
<p>"I heard that you've been out and about with some other girl." Zuko said after standing in silence for far too long. Sokka immediately stopped walking and looked at him with wide eyes, as though he wasn’t expecting him to bring anything up.</p>
<p>He understood why Sokka seemed so shocked. He shocked himself when the words flew out of his mouth, but now that he’s thinking about it, he figured that he might as well get all of this off his chest. </p>
<p>"What you've heard is true," Zuko thought that it would break his heart to hear Sokka confess out loud, but it really just felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, “But I can't stop thinking about you."</p>
<p>He looked down at his toes in the sand, thinking about all the times that he sat around wondering if what people had told him had been true. He thought about all the times he stayed up worrying about Sokka cheating, about Sokka falling out of love with him, about all the lies that Sokka had told him. These thoughts haunted him every day until he suddenly realized that Sokka never loved him to begin with. The realization had broken his heart at first, but after a while, he learned how to cope with it. He stopped blaming himself for not seeing it from the very beginning and started blaming Sokka for being the type of person who plays with people's hearts, who fed on weak people like their pain was their only way to live.</p>
<p>"I've been there too." He laughed dryly; unexpected tears started trailing down his cheeks. "A few times."</p>
<p>And it was true. He thought about him a lot when he suddenly disappeared. He spent a whole year just remembering all of the good times they had. He remembered his laugh, and how his eyes sparkled when he smiled. He remembered how they would push the furniture in the living room back so they could dance around the room. He remembered their first date and how it solidified his feelings for the man. It was always the good times that he had remembered, until one night he realized that they've had more bad times than good. Then he started to remember how they've always seemed to break up and fall back together. How Sokka would always pick fights even when he knew he was wrong because he knew that Zuko would always fall for his excuses. He remembered their last date and how it made Zuko realize that he had to end their relationship. </p>
<p>“I- I wish I could tell you that I want to get back together too,” Zuko sniffled, using his jacket sleeve to wipe the tears from his cheeks, “But we went out of style, Sokka.”</p>
<p>If hearing Sokka’s confession was a weight lifting off of his shoulders, then finally breaking this endless cycle felt like a breath of fresh air. Sokka clearly didn’t understand. It was almost comical how quickly his expression went from being bright with delight, to being twisted in anger. That alone let Zuko know that he had made the right choice in speaking those words.</p>
<p>“‘We went out of style’?” Sokka mocked, “I pour my heart out to you and all you have to say is ‘we went out of style.’?! Fuck you! What type of answer is that? ‘We went out of style’.”</p>
<p>Sokka poured his heart out? That's probably what his rambling was about….oops. Anyway, that wasn't the important part. The way he kept mockingly repeating 'We went out of style' in a poor imitation of his voice really made it hard to not punch him in the face. Zuko really, <em>really</em> wanted to punch him in the face.</p>
<p>“You could have at least thought about it more. I mean after everything we’ve been through together, you could have at least considered it before dumping me.” Sokka criticized as he paced around the area, “‘We went out of style.’ what the fuck.”</p>
<p>What the hell did that asshole just say? Everything they've been through together? Were they living in different worlds right now? Did Zuko experience a totally different relationship than Sokka had?</p>
<p>“Everything we’ve been through? You mean those times you never fucking showed up to anything remotely important to me? Or those times you stomped out of the house because you didn’t get your way?” Zuko pointed out, “My favorite is that time we got into a car accident because we were screaming at each other on our way to Katara’s. Do you remember that? Or were you too busy keeping your dick wet with my best friend?”</p>
<p>That had shut Sokka down from his rampage immediately. For a moment he just stood there, the wind blowing through his hair. There was no sound except for the waves crashing into nearby rocks and along the coast.</p>
<p>“I can’t fucking believe you would even-” Sokka exploded, arms flailing as the anger bust out of him in waves.</p>
<p>Zuko had tuned him out at that point. He knew that Sokka was about to degrade him to all hell. It’s another toxic cycle of theirs. Zuko would accidentally (and sometimes on purpose) say the wrong thing, Sokka would get pissed off and curse him out, he'd storm out, he's come back hours letter smelling like Yue's perfume, Zuko would pretend like he didn't notice, they'd fuck and make up, repeat. Well, that's not going to happen this time. Sokka can call him whatever he wants, but Zuko's going to be the one storming off.</p>
<p>Zuko just wanted to go home.</p>
<p>"Take me home." Zuko said calmly. He didn't even wait for an answer before he began the trek back towards the car.</p>
<p>Behind him, Sokka stopped in the middle of his tirade completely in shock by Zuko's attitude. This wasn't how he was expecting this night to go. He was supposed to pick Zuko up, have a nice romantic walk on the beach and end the night with 'let's get back together' sex. That's how it always happens, it's just the way things were meant to be. Tonight's different. Tonight, he could tell that Zuko wasn't listening to his speech, a speech he spent ten minutes preparing, by the way, Zuko didn't accept his offer, and most shocking of all, Zuko walked off in the middle of a fight.</p>
<p>This is not how it’s supposed to go, and that scared Sokka to no end.</p>
<p>“Zuko, wait!" Sokka shouted after him, running the short distance to catch Zuko by his arm. Zuko snatched his arm out of his grip and turned to face him with a scowl on his face. For the first time, he noticed the tears on his cheeks. Oh shit.</p>
<p>‘<em>This is not how it’s supposed to go.</em>’ Sokka thought as he watched angry tears pour down Zuko’s cheeks. He had to think of something, he had to make it right. What would Zuko like? What would he say yes to immediately? What wou-</p>
<p>“Let’s- let’s go to -”</p>
<p>"Just take me home!" Zuko growled before Sokka could even finish his sentence. He turned and started walking back to the car again. Sokka let him go this time, watching as he yanked the door open and slammed it shut as he climbed in.</p>
<p>This is not how it's supposed to go, but Sokka followed Zuko to the car anyway. He cautiously climbed into the car and tried to start it as quietly as possible so that he wouldn't make Zuko angrier. They drove in awkward silence, this time Sokka didn't feel the need to fill the silence.</p>
<p>Before Sokka couldn’t keep his eyes on the road. Now, he’s staring straight ahead, a million thoughts rushing through his head. How could he make things right, how could he get this night to steer back into the direction he wanted things to go. He was so lost in his thoughts, that he hadn’t realized that he pulled in front of a familiar house until the car was stopped. He turned to Zuko to try to rectify his mistakes, but the man was already opening the car door.</p>
<p>“Delete my number and forget that I ever existed." Zuko hissed in his direction, leaving Sokka speechless as he watched Zuko push himself out of the car, walk up to his driveway and into his house.</p>
<p>This was not how it’s supposed to go, and that scared Sokka because he suddenly realized that he’d just lost the best thing that’s ever been his.</p>
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